The project addresses the area of production and distribution of reality TV formats with the following research questions: How are emotions produced in global (transculturally structured) reality TV formats? Which emotions aim the producer to display in reality TV and which emotions on the side of the audience are they addressing? Which forms of emotional labour and work play a role in the production process itself? Which forms of belonging are negotiated in the production process and which ones are supposed to be created?

To answer the research questions, various actors involved in the production process of reality TV programmes were interviewed using the method of expert interviews. The focus is on the practices of local-cultural adaptation of television formats and the (implicit) assumptions about emotions on the part of the protagonists as well as the viewers. Indirectly, the television producers' own concepts of emotions become visible, which in particular indicate their own efforts to distinguish themselves from their audience. The sample consist of 12 national (Germany) and international experts in the areas of casting, realization, production, product development and the editorial staff of the TV stations.

First results:

Sūna, L. (2018): Belonging as Cultural Proxim­ity in the Process of Adapting Global Re­ality TV Formats, in: Media and Communica­tion, 6(3), 30-39.